The Diablo Valley College (DVC) speech and debate team won the Northern California Forensics Association (NCFA) championship at the NCFA Spring Championship Tournament, held in Chico and Oroville in February 2024. This achievement is just one of many, with the team winning six of the past eight NFCA championships.
DVC’s team of more than 40 students defeated competitors from universities and community colleges across the Northern California region. Not only did DVC win overall by a wide margin, but many individual students were named champions in their specific events. Notable first-place wins for individual DVC students included:
- Eden Ozeri – Prose Interpretation
- Manahil Syeda – Communication Analysis
- Harsimar Saini – Lincoln Douglas Debate
- Harsimar Saini & Ameya Puranik – Parliamentary Debate
- Ameya Puranik – Top Speaker in Parliamentary Debate
- Prerana Gowda – Junior International Public Debate
- Prerana Gowda & Tristan Espana – Junior Parliamentary Debate
- Katrina Westfall – Novice After Dinner Speaking
- Aslan Brown – Novice Prose Interpretation
“DVC”s speech and debate team has become the most dominant team in Northern California. Multiple alumni across the team’s illustrious history came out to support the team, offering words of wisdom as the students headed into competition,” said Robert Hawkins, Co-Director of Speech and Debate, and Department Chair of Communication Studies at DVC.
The DVC Spring Speech and Debate Showcase will be held on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the DVC Performing Arts Center on the college’s Pleasant Hill campus. The showcase will feature a performance that highlights several of the team’s most successful speeches, and a demo debate featuring some of the reigning regional, state, and national champions.
Tickets are $12 if bought in advance, or $14 at the door. To purchase tickets, visit https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=229839.
About DVC Speech and Debate:
The Diablo Valley College Speech and Debate team is one of the most awarded and successful community college programs in the state and across the nation. DVC team members often earn scholarships to compete at some of the top forensics programs in the nation. In recent years, competitors have transferred to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State University, and San Diego State University. Students interested in joining the speech and debate team can enroll in Comm-163: Forensics Speech and Debate.
About Diablo Valley College
Diablo Valley College (DVC) is one of three publicly supported two-year community colleges in the Contra Costa Community College District. Serving the central part of Contra Costa County, CA, the larger of DVC’s two campuses is located off Interstate 680 in Pleasant Hill, and the newer San Ramon Campus serves the south county in Dougherty Valley. DVC offers a wide variety of academic and support programs including associate degrees, associate degrees for transfer, certificates of achievement, certificates of accomplishments, and noncredit certificates. The college is not only recognized as one of California’s best community colleges, but it also leads the state in transfer to four-year institutions. For more information, visit www.dvc.edu.
